KUCHING, May 25 : Tourism has changed from pleasure seeking activity to a mere economic activity.
The people oriented industry with its major functions depend on human resources, local community participation in tourism activities play an integral role in reviving and sustaining the tourism sector.
Therefore, Sarawak aims to increase the participation of local communities in tourism by 20 percent.
State Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts minister, Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said under Post Covid 19 Development Strategy 2030 (PCDS 2030), more emphasis will be given to develop eco-tourism and community-based tourism.
“Ecotourism has become an important sustainable economic activity around the world.
“It provides opportunities for visitors to experience powerful manifestations of nature and culture and to learn about the importance of biodiversity conservation and local cultures,” Karim said in delivering his ministerial winding up speech on Day 7 of the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting on Wednesday.
In addition, a major source of employment and it has all the capabilities in contributing towards the livelihood of the local community by
providing employment and involving them in all kinds of tourism activities , especially those in the rural and remote areas.
Towards this end, the ministry aims to increase homestay clusters from 46 to 48 clusters this year by increasing registrations and trainings.
“The enhanced attitude, skills and knowledge will prepare our tourism industry operators and frontliners for the return of the visitors,” he said.
At the same time, the ministry is also promoting ecotourism products such as Sarawak Delta Geopark, Heart of Borneo and Totally Protected Areas (TPAs) in Sarawak.
Currently, Sarawak has a total of 67 gazetted TPAs which include 47 national parks, 15 nature reserves and 5 wildlife sanctuaries.
Karim noted that since the reopening of tourism, Sarawak has seen an increase in visitors to national parks, with Semenggoh Nature Reserve seen an increase of 84% visitors for the period of January to April 2022 (11,453 visitors) compared to the same period last year (1,813 visitors).
Moving forward, Sarawak is in the process of nominating Niah National Park as its second World Heritage Site under the mixed category for natural and cultural heritage.
Noting that it had done various efforts to complete the Draft Dossier for voluntary submission to UNESCO by September this year.-TVS
